Thanksgiving night I went to a party populated mostly by people I didn't know. My brother Morgan taught us all a game called Nails.
Object: to be the last one with a nail sticking out of the block of wood.
Method: Each person sets a nail (hammers it in just far enough to stand up) in a common block of wood. On the turn, a player first flips the hammer - throw from the handle, catch it so it's turned once end-over, that's one whack. Throw it under your leg, that's 2. Throw it behind your back and catch it, that's three. When you get to hit at the nails, you're not allowed to line the shot up at all, just go in swinging. Try not to sink your own nail.
We played in the garage where there was plenty of stacked firewood from which to choose our block. If you don't live in Vermont, this game is likely very hard to get organized, but I'm going to try it out when I get back to Texas.
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the last 10 books I read
David Sedaris: When You Are Engulfed in Flames
I have noticed in the last couple years that reading while eating has become dissatisfying - I enjoy both less, taste less, remember less. I read most of this while eating. I think it was more mature and not as hysterically funny as Me Talk Pretty One Day, but I also think that last burger needed salt.Charles Palliser: The Quincunx
A thoroughly engrossing and very long victorian legal mystery/adventure. Also quite enjoyable! It did not end the way I expected.Cormac McCarthy: The Road
Easily one of the best books I've ever read. I'll give you a dollar if you can make it through without crying.Anais Nin: Little Birds
Not the one in the picture, but a lovely old red hardbound edition given to me by Heather. It reads like the stories were written over a long period of time, but perhaps the progression of tone was intentional?Haruki Murakami: Norwegian Wood
My only excuse for not having read this before is that it was just perfect for me now. Rocketed to my favorites list straightaway.Ernest Hemingway: A Farewell To Arms
The progression of language and complexity through the book was most interesting to me. The depiction of the central couple's affair seems disturbingly co-dependent and unhealthy, but that's just age, I guess.Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Memories of My Melancholy Whores
Yes, quite good, the right length for a domestic flight. I hate to say "nothing special" but that's how I remember it.Jerzy Kosinski: Steps
A re-read of a book I thought was too creepy and yucky to ever read again. Densely packed with uncomfortable feelings and moments of brilliance.Charlie Brooker: Dawn of the Dumb
This is a collection of Charlie Brooker's columns in the Guardian from the last couple of years. If you don't read it, you really ought to start. http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/charliebrooker He writes about (british) TV and pop culture in a way that's so f'ing funny it makes me forget that I don't get the references. A bit formulaic when you read them all at a stretch.James Kelman: How Late It Was, How Late: A Novel
A claustrophobic stream-of-consciousness rant, the focus set so tight you feel like you yourself are blind. Review quotes refer to how funny it is, but perhaps I'm too American to find it anything but choking. In a good way.
Stump hammering - yup. I saw that game in action in snowy country - in Switzerland. The people I played with added alcohol to hammer swinging and nail pounding, for extra breathless fun. I was nervous as heck about being around all that moving metal, until I downed hot wine, grabbed the handle and started hitting stump. If you get it going in Texas, I'll see if I can get it going in California!
Posted by: justin | 12/01/2003 at 08:00 AM
Damn, that sounds like fun. I wanna play too.
Posted by: Fleischman | 12/01/2003 at 07:15 PM